Best selling Yes-related album of 2016

We can debate what the best Yes-related album of 2016 was. You voted The Invention of Knowledge as the best of the first half of the year; I'll hold a poll for the second half of the year soon. But what about the best selling? Forget what the fans might like – what actually got heard the most?

The best selling album with some Yes connection in 2016 was David Bowie's Best of Bowie. This 2002 compilation, including a number of tracks with Rick Wakeman, shot up the charts following Bowie's death and ended up the 10th best selling album of the year in the UK, and 86th so in the US. (Another Bowie compilation, Nothing has Changed, including tracks with Wakeman and with Tony Levin, was the 40th best selling in the UK.) Wakeman's piano cover of "Life on Mars" also did well, topping the UK physical singles sales chart for 2 weeks, although physical sales are a small proportion of overall singles sales.

Old sessions with big name artists often sell better than new releases. Compare also Queen's The Platinum Collection, with Steve Howe on "Innuendo", which was the 107th best selling album of the year in the US. This has possibly been Steve Howe's best seller every year since its release.

OK, but what about new recordings? Well, we could include The Rolling Stones' Blue & Lonesome with ABWH second keyboardist Matt Clifford on it. This was the 17th best selling album of the year in the UK, and the 5th in Germany, 8th in the Netherlands, 15th in Austria, 22nd in both parts of Belgium, 28th in New Zealand and 66th in Denmark. It has made Gold in the UK (100,000 sales), Germany (100,000), Italy (25,000), Poland (10,000), New Zealand (7,500), and Austria (7,500). It made #4 in the US, although it didn't make the top 200 sellers of the year. It was also #2 in France and Canada, #3 in Japan etc. Clifford missed out on the ABWH tour because he got an offer from The Rolling Stones and he's worked with them ever since.

Yeah, fine, but what about proper Yes members, playing on new recordings – which sold the best? This was probably the Anderson/Stolt album, The Invention of Knowledge. This charted at #58 in the UK (#4 on the Progressive chart) and made #21 on the US Rock chart.

Also worthy of mention was Action Moves People United, the UNESCO charity project with Alan White, Geoff Downes, Patrick Moraz and Tony Levin among many others, which made #8 in US Compilation chart. (I presume #58 in the overall chart in the UK and #21 on the US Rock chart means better sales than #8 on the US Compilation chart, but I don't have actual sales figures.)

We could also note that “12 Monkeys” season two, with music by Trevor Rabin & Paul Linford, got as high as 470,000 viewers in the US, which is probably a bigger audience hearing Rabin's music than those who heard The Invention of Knowledge.

Poll: Best Yes-related album of 1971

Our first two historical polls produced very clear results (Tomorrow's eponymous release winning best related album of the 1960s with 95% and King Crimson's Lizard winning best related album of 1970 with 67%), but 1971, the year of my and Jon Davison's birth, was much, much closer. With 70 votes, the results were:

1) George Harrison: All Things Must Pass (w/ White): 15 (21%)
2=) David Bowie: Hunky Dory (w/ Wakeman): 13 (19%)
2=) John Lennon: Imagine (w/ White): 13 (19%)
4) Mainhorse: Mainhorse (w/ Moraz): 10 (14%)  
5) The Strawbs: From the Witchwood (w/ Wakeman): 9 (13%)
6) Cat Stevens: Teaser and the Firecat (w/ Wakeman): 5 (7%)
7) Elton John: Madman Across the Water (w/ Wakeman): 3 (4%)
8) Colin Scot: Colin Scot with Friends (w/ Anderson, Wakeman): 1 (2%)
9=) Yoko Ono: Fly (w/ White): 0 (0%)
9=) Bell and Arc: Bell and Arc (w/ White): 0 (0%)

There was one 'other' vote, but with no choice specified.

The options were dominated by session work from either Rick Wakeman or Alan White, both still to join Yes at this point. White's two albums with former Beatles come first and joint second, although Wakeman's various appearances total marginally more votes (31 versus 28).

2013 charts and awards

Yes's 2013 touring was the 180th highest grossing in North America (on the Pollstar chart), with a total gross of $4.4 million, average ticket sales of 1,431 and an average gross of $84,615. They were just below Hall & Oates on $4.5 million, who beat them to Hall of Fame induction, and just ahead of Ed Sheeran ($4.4 million), who's had great success in the UK, but is taking longer to break America.

It's hard to say who Yes's competition should be considered to be, but I note Sigur Rós were 163rd ($5.2 million, 2,815 average tickets), Rush were 64th ($14.9 million, 8,338 average tickets), Muse were 30th ($31.2 million, 12,968 average tickets) and Trans-Siberian Orchestra were 14th ($47.9 million, 13,161 average tickets), but of course 99% of all prog rock bands didn't come anywhere near this list. Black Sabbath, with whom Adam Wakeman is still touring, were 56th with $19.7 million grossed and 13,990 average ticket sales. 1st on the list? Taylor Swift ($112.7 million, 28,411 average tickets).


Let's switch to a different perspective on the year and Prog magazine's Readers Poll. With few high-profile Yes or related releases in 2013, Yes or Yesmen did not appear in most categories. Rick Wakeman was #4 in the Keyboards category, won by Dream Theater's Jordan Rudess, a professed Yes fan. Tony Levin made #9 in the Bassist category, won by Nick Beggs (currently playing with Steven Wilson; worked with Steve Howe some years ago). Yes did win the Reissue category with the Panegyric Close to the Edge, while King Crimson's The Road to Red (with Bruford) was #4. Remixes on Close to the Edge were by Steven Wilson, of course, who had a very strong showing in the poll for his own work. His album The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories) won Album of the Year. His band's tour won the Event category and they came #3 in Band of the Year, while Wilson himself topped the Icon category and was also #5 in Male Singer.

A third perspective... what was the best selling Yes-related album of 2013? Hard to tell, but I presume it was Renato Zero's Amo - Capitolo 1, with 4 tracks produced by Horn (and also involving Luis Jardim, percussion on Fly from Here, and Tim Weidner, worked on Fly from Here and Magnification). The album made #1 in Italy and was certified Platinum (60,000 sales). Horn also produced 2 tracks on Spector's debut album, Enjoy It While It Lasts, which made #12 in the UK and, I guess, would be the second best-selling Yes-related album of the year. That is, unless we include David Bowie's The Next Day, with Levin on 5 tracks, because The Next Day made #1 in the UK (94,048 first week sales) and many other countries, and #2 in the US (85,000 first week sales).